Love for Paula - from Other Executives

Fox may have let her go by not giving her the money she thought she deserved, but rival networks are saying now how interested they are in acquiring Paula Abdul to their networks.

Stephen McPherson was the latest on Saturday, the last day of the TV Critics press tour, saying he'd "absolutely" be interested in getting the former "American Idol" judge on his network, especially for their own reality talent show, "Dancing with the Stars."

"I was a little stunned by the decision," McPherson said. "We would love to have her on 'Dancing.' whether it's as a contestant or participant of some sort, judge, et cetera. I think she's a huge talent."

She's no nut, he seemed to say. "I think that there's a lot made about her in terms of who she is, and I think there's a sensitivity and there's kind of an emotion to her that balancing out "Idol." And we'd love to get a piece of that. It would be great."

He's already reached out to her, he said. "We're friends from way back, so I gave her a call, first and foremost, just to say I was sorry about the situation and also that we'd love to see her on ABC."

Earlier in the tour, Paul Telegdy reality TV chief at NBC said, "Paula's an exceptional piece of talent that I've been lucky enough to meet a couple of times. We've got no specific plans for her, but I read the breaking news... and wouldn't rule anything out."

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Roger Catlin is TV critic for the Hartford Courant and writes a daily column about what's on television called TV Eye. He is also on the board of the Television Critics Association. Before all of this, he was rock critic ... read more